


Vulcan Priorities

by The_Norsiest



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Awkward Crush, F/M, Hand Touching, Injury, Just a Vulcan being a Vulcan, Just a bit of fluff really, POV Multiple, medical treatment, plasma burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26084299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Norsiest/pseuds/The_Norsiest
Summary: Posting for Star Trek Bingo, Prompts: VulcansWhen a small explosion occurs in engineering and sick bay is busy, Ensign Vorik decides to seek his friend out for medical treatment. As a Vulcan he's very capable of controlling the pain, but the injury isn't nearly as alarming as having his hand so intimately touched.
Relationships: Vorik (Star Trek) & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37
Collections: Star Trek Bingo Summer 2020





	Vulcan Priorities

**Author's Note:**

> Vorik is something of a muse for me. I don't really post my Carmen/Vorik stuff because it's an OC and minor character and very self indulgent, but I wanted to do this one for the Bingo event. Hope you enjoy!

Carmen scrolled up on the screen in hand, her eyes darting over the words on display. The story was riveting; a supernatural epic filled with drama and intrigue. She’d just gotten to the good part, when the heroes gathered the mystical elements to banish the forces of evil. Her free hand idly reached out for the cup on the side table, the hot tea having turned cold some time ago. Even as she raised the cup to her lips she didn’t dare take her focus from the novel. The liquid passed her tongue, and the caffeine settled into her system to provide the energy she needed to carry on. She’d only been reading for the past three hours straight after all. 

The door chimed.

“Enter,” Carmen said absently, not even realizing her brow furrowed at the disturbance.

Vorik’s presence was becoming more and more customary to her, though she had no conscious understanding of this. The simple way he entered a room, only after the doors were fully opened and never as they were moving. A single deliberate step forward and pause as he surveyed his surroundings. If she wasn’t so intent on the PADD perhaps Carmen would have noted how his stare was like a physical force; that her body responded to it by way of turning to a more proper posture. The presence of the Vulcan reminding her to roll her shoulders back instead of forward. Her eyes however, never left the page.

“Is my presence disturbing your studies?” he asked plainly.

She didn’t look up as she continued to consume the tale, her mind vividly turning the words to actions in her thoughts. “No, no, I just want to finish this chapter…”

_The heroes were chanting over a fire and burning the sacred texts. The demon howling in the distance as he rushed them, intent to devour their souls._

Vorik was quiet for a moment. He’d seen her enthralled in a book before and it was somewhat curious how she often mouthed the words while reading along. When asked she’d once informed him that she used to read her younger sister bedtime stories. It was another of those hard habits to break, to which she had no intention of breaking. 

“I was curious if you still possessed your field medic kit from your training with the doctor?” he asked.

“Hmm…” she responded though it appeared as if she hadn’t registered his inquiry. “I’m sure it’s around here somewhere,” she said after a short pause.Carmen couldn’t focus, or rather, she was very focused on her story. 

_The demon had tackled the younger hero to the ground and the older was attempting to beat the creature off by throwing salt in its eyes. Somewhere in the distance the skeleton army approached, their bones clinking at the sound of their inevitable appearance. It was now or never!_

Vorik tilted his head admiring her deep contemplation. Perhaps they would have more philosophy to discuss later. His current needs, however, were a little more pressing than his interest in her moral musings. “If given the medical kit I can attend to myself,” he posed.

 _The army had descended, chaos as the battle raged, torn clothing, scattered bones, and a plethora of carnage._

Even with all of this Vorik’s statement managed to get through. Carmen looked up from the book to the sight of her friend, standing there as he normally would, a look of calm and curiousness. His left arm was behind him as he typically had it, but his right was by his side, bloody and burned.

“VORIK!” The human woman practically jumped from the couch, dropping her cup and tablet to the table with a thump as she rushed over “What happened?” she asked with great concern.

Carmen cradled his arm gently by the elbow, forgetting her manners in regard to Vulcans and touching. There was a large gash down the back of his forearm; the sleeve, or what was left of it, had been rolled up and pinned in a tidy fashion. Several other cuts were slightly visible beneath the coating of green blood. Some of it was dried; some had continued to run after he’d brushed the previously clotted sections against some item or another. His hand and the under side of his arm appeared to be somewhat charred. The novel’s description of a battle with hellfire couldn’t compare to the reality of his plasma burns.

“There was an explosion in engineering,” he explained as he was ushered to the couch and seated. His voice showed no sign of alarm to his present health.

“Why didn’t you go to sick bay?” Carmen asked, darting into her bedroom before he could answer. She had to shimmy under her bed to reach the field medic kit she’d stored there weeks ago after the mandatory training. One couldn’t go on away missions without basic first aid knowledge. 

“There was a risk of further damage to the warp core. Several members of engineering had already been incapacitated,” he explained during her return. She sat next to him, placing the kit on the table. “Once aware that I still had function in my arm, it was a simple matter of using my mental discipline to ignore the pain in order to perform the needed repairs and assist Lt. Torres.”

Carmen opened the kit and rummaged around for the tools she needed which never seemed to be on top. “You WORKED like this?” she shouldn’t have been so surprised. The fact that he was casually regaling her with the tale instead of yowling with pain was proof enough of Vulcan mind over matter.

“It only took two hours and twenty-seven minutes,” he assured her.

Carmen shook her head before she turned and gingerly grabbed his elbow once more. A small device in her other hand. Vorik held out his arm. A dull light and low hum issued from the unit as she worked. The sanitation device was designed to dissolve debris and clean the area. He turned his forearm, following her movement to allow the full range of his injury.

The hypospray was next, a quick jab at the wrist would encourage the blood to clot while the medicine worked its way upwards through the muscle tissue. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t go to sick bay afterwards.”

“I did” he assured her, watching her careful administration of treatment. “The Doctor was in surgery and Mr. Paris was busy with several other officers. I estimated it would be at least another hour before I was attended to. However, I recalled you had a medic kit and training. It seemed the more efficient course of action to come here.”

“Your confidence in my abilities is flattering” she said offhand. He had become accustomed to her sense of humor, the occasional sarcasm and quick retort. But her voice took a softer tone as she put the hypospray down and reached back into the kit “Promise me you’ll get this checked out later?” She looked at him. Her eyes raised to meet his, to make sure he understood. He was lost for a moment to their hold, the light brown with flecks of gold making him forgetful. Vorik nodded in agreement. 

Once the area had been fully prepped Carmen took the dermal regenerator from the box. They were quiet as she ran the device cautiously over the various cuts and burns. In the doctor’s hands this would have been over in a matter of seconds, but to the ensign who’d only ever performed such treatments on holographic simulations it was a matter of minutes. Vorik again turned his arm back and forth so she could seal each gash. Vorik’s concentration was split. As Carmen focused on the task at hand, Vorik instead focused on her; on the way she diligently performed her duties, completely present and not so un-Vulcan like. He always found her work satisfactory. 

Once the wounds had been closed there was no scarring, and other than his frayed uniform, you’d have never known anything had happened. Vorik pulled back slightly to relieve her of her efforts. Yet, Carmen’s hold on his arm remained strong. She put down the mending tool before reaching up. Slowly she brushed the back of his arm with her fingers, going from elbow to wrist in a one gentle stroke.

“What are you doing?” Vorik asked, unable to conceal the surprise that escaped in his voice. Though he made no further move to pull away.

Carmen continued to look down at his appendage “You had that wound for a while, I want to make sure you don’t have any nerve damage,” she said professionally. Her index finger glided over the back of his hand, trailing over knuckles and grazing each of his digits in turn. The motion was firm but caressing and her skin against his was soft. She didn’t notice him stiffen in his seat.

“I don’t believe that is necessary,” he offered, he was unaware of the flush rising to his face.

The human figured it was just Vulcan bravado and turned his arm over to repeat the gesture. “Any numbness or tingling?” she asked. Her fingers fanned out, spreading over the underside of his arm where the skin was more sensitive. He shifted as she reached his palm and pressed into the flesh. The natural curling of his own fingers touched her palm in return. He felt goosebumps rising on his neck. 

“No” he gulped, just in the slightest amount.

Carmen brushed up each correlating digit before pausing briefly at the tips. “How about here?” She looked up at him while slipping her fingers between his in a laced-like fashion to check the area between.

Vorik’s face was usually very expressive but he held a forced sternness now that neither was accustomed to. “You should know, this does not mean the same thing to humans as it does to Vulcans,” he replied.

“What?” she chortled, rubbing his thumb. “Treating a burn?” 

It would be illogical to allow her to continue without context. “The stroking of hands and fingers. It is considered a very intimate act. The equivalent of various human gestures-” She stopped her administration and stared blankly at him. “-such as hand holding, kissing…” his face was expressionless “foreplay.”

It was Carmen’s turn to tense. Her eyes widened. “I, I…” she closed his hand and pushed it back towards him, relinquishing her hold. “I’m so sorry.”

He took his hand back, feeling the sudden absence of her touch in a way that was unexpected. His body relaxed just a bit as he watched her cheeks turn to a brighter shade of pink, the phenomenon known as blushing. “You had no way of knowing.” The sight of her distress was not something he enjoyed. “And with Vulcans there is telepathy involved.” Carmen gave him a look as if she’d forgotten that he was capable of reading thoughts through touch. Her cheeks turned that much more scarlet. “I of course controlled the impulse,” he assured her.

“I’m certain,” Carmen said, turning away.

Neither looked at the other for a moment, a strange silence falling over them. Carmen decided it was best to busy her hands by repacking the med kit. Each item had a place for storage, not that she minded shoving everything back haphazardly. Upon the first try the lid pressed against the hypospray and she was forced to rearrange the tool before it would latch.

Vorik, meanwhile, clasped his hands and set them in his lap. Normally he would have suggested to his friend that she should be more logical about her placement of the instruments needed for emergencies. It was curious though; he’d never seen her so flustered. He waited on the couch quietly as she moved to return the supplies to their previous location. 

Carmen dropped to the floor and slid the kit back beneath the bed where it was secure between supports. Still kneeling on the floor she paused as a thought ran across her mind. “How is it done?” she called from the bedroom. There was no reply.

Carmen came back out, cheeks still pink but now she was able to look him in the eye. He was sitting just as he’d been, at an angle to face her. When he looked at her she might have thought him sick with discoloration of his cheeks, forgetting for the moment that the blood in his veins would bring a different sort of flush than hers; indicating his own embarrassment. Not that Vulcans could be embarrassed of course. 

Vorik cleared his throat. “Clarify.”

Carmen grabbed hold of her left arm and rubbed it slightly. She took a couple steps closer “Does this ‘intimacy’ have a name? Humans call kissing ‘kissing’ after all.”

Vorik looked away for a moment as he considered. “I do not believe you could pronounce it.”

She’d learned some time ago that he wasn’t being conceited when he said things like that and let the almost insult roll off. “Well… How is it done then? Is what I did appropriate or… is there a technique?” Carmen sat back down next to him.

Vorik, in turn, had learned that when she asked questions like these, she did not mean to be invasive, but rather that as a science officer, she often couldn’t help but be curious. He found his eyes dart to her hands; her fingers which had only recently been pressed to his skin lay still against her leg. Her touch had been nice. 

“As I understand it,” he began, “there is not an incorrect method. It is, however, usually done with the index and middle finger extended.”

He raised his hand to show her. His index and middle finger pointed out while the ring and pinky finger stayed down, the thumb crossed over his palm. Carmen examined his hand and made to mimic the gesture, the unaccustomed nature of the hold taking her a moment to get right. She held her hand up to show him, looking for confirmation.

Vorik stared at her hand, outstretched in quiet request for approval. It wouldn’t take much to extend his own and demonstrate the action to her; to feel along her fingers, to skim over her skin. It wouldn’t be illogical to offer clarification to her curious nature. He paused for a moment, examining the digits that had moved against his arm only seconds before. It wouldn’t be illogical… but it wouldn’t be logical either. Vorik nodded, assuring her it was correct.

“A couple would then stroke the fingers together.” He was regaining his composure “I suppose it is no different than humans and rubbing lips”

“Rubbing lips?” Carmen couldn’t help but laugh. She put her hand down. There was slight raising of his brow; a silent question as to what she found so humorous. “You do realize it’s more than that, don’t you?” she chuckled again. 

Noticing the empty cup from earlier she picked it up and moved towards the replicators. Her small Ensign’s suite meant the technology was only a few steps away. She ordered two teas from the machine; one plain for him, one with honey for her. Carmen returned to the couch and offered her guest his drink.

“I have little context in that area,” he said, taking his cup. He was careful not to touch her fingers, lest he incite another moment of awkwardness between them. “Although…” he took a sip of the Vulcan blend. “Given that the majority of the crew is human, if I were to take a mate on board, kissing will be a technique I intend to master.”

Carmen nearly spat out her tea with laughter. It wasn’t that he was being cocky; he really did believe it was something to be ‘mastered’. He was still missing the point. “Vorik” she coaxed “What’s more important with the finger stroking, the technique or the bond between the couple sharing it?”

The ensign took another pause as he considered. After a moment, he looked back to the human, cup raised to her mouth, an amused grin curling her lips. Even in uniform, she often managed to come across as casual with the way she found so much entertainment in the mundane. While she sipped the warm liquid from her mug, he found himself wondering more about her question. Intimacy was something very difficult for a Vulcan to express. With Carmen, he felt it was easier than with other members of the crew. Their friendship had allowed him to be more open than he had ever been in the past. 

“The bond” he answered before taking another drink from his mug. 

She smiled.


End file.
